Instruments of optical pulse characterization

ABSTRACT

An object of the present invention is to provide an optical transmission system, a signal error rate of which is low, and an instrument of optical pulse characterization which is useful for providing such an optical system. Therefore, it is important to measure, with high sensitivity, time and frequency properties of an ultrashort optical pulse in an arbitrary polarized state, and thereby to characterize the properties. Main points of the present invention are as follows: preparing a two-photon transition medium where efficiency of two-photon transition does not depend on polarization; splitting an optical pulse to be measured into a probe optical pulse and a gate optical pulse by a polarization independent beam splitter; after adding variable delay time to this gate optical pulse, entering the probe optical pulse and the gate optical pulse into a highly efficient two-photon absorption medium so that both of the pulses cross each other, and thereby generating an optical gate function; resolving a spectrum of the transmitted probe optical pulse, and detecting the spectrum by a photodetector; and measuring intensity of electric-field absorption of the probe optical pulse as a function of delay time and a frequency.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a polarization-independentoptical pulse characterization instrument which analyzes time andfrequency (wavelength) properties of an optical pulse in an arbitrarypolarized state.

[0002] As a technology for analyzing time and frequency properties of anoptical pulse by measuring a spectrogram which is a function of delaytime and a frequency (or a wavelength), a method calledfrequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) has been developed. Change withtime or change with frequency (wavelength) in intensity and phase of anoptical pulse to be measured can be obtained from a spectrogram. Thistechnique is reported in the following documents: Review of ScientificInstruments, Vol. 68, No. 9, pp. 3277-3295, 1997; Physica Status Solidi(b) Vol. 206, pp. 119-124, 1998; and IEEE Journal of QuantumElectronics, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 421-431, 1999.

[0003] As a technology for characterizing a feeble ultrashort opticalpulse with high sensitivity and high time resolution at the time ofoptical fiber transmission, FROG to which two-photon absorption in asemiconductor is applied as an optical gate has been developed. Thistechnique is reported in Optics Express, Vol. 7, pp. 135-140, 2000. Withthis technique, the following method for measuring a spectrogram isdisclosed: a probe optical pulse and a gate optical pulse in a linearpolarization state, in which both of the optical pulses are orthogonalto each other, are colinearly entered in a two-photon absorption medium;and thereby a spectrogram is measured as a function of delay timebetween the gate optical pulse and the probe optical pulse, and as afunction of a frequency or a wavelength.

[0004] In a long-distance optical fiber transmission system, it isexpected that polarization mixing and polarization mode dispersioncaused by double refraction in an optical fiber will exert a seriousinfluence upon signal degradation. Therefore, characterization of theinfluence of polarization mixing and polarization mode dispersion in theoptical fiber exerted upon ultrashort optical pulse transmission isindispensable for enhancing performance of the long-distance opticalfiber transmission system which uses an ultrashort optical pulse.However, in the conventional method for characterizing an optical pulseusing FROG which applies two-photon absorption in a semiconductor as anoptical gate, an optical pulse to be measured and a gate optical pulsemust always be in a linear polarization state. Therefore, theconventional method cannot be applied to an arbitrary polarized opticalpulse. It is impossible to correctly characterize a randomly polarizedoptical pulse, and an optical pulse, a waveform of which is distorted,which are caused by polarization mixing and polarization modedispersion.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an opticaltransmission system, a signal error rate of which is low. Another objectof the present invention is to provide an instrument of optical pulsecharacterization which is useful to provide such an optical system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] According to a first typical aspect of the present invention,there is provided an instrument of optical pulse characterization,wherein: analysis of optical pulse properties, resulting frompolarization mode dispersion, becomes possible by the steps of:discriminating between an optical pulse to be measured and an opticalpulse by four-wave mixing to eliminate noise generated by interferenceof the optical pulse to be measured with the optical pulse by four-wavemixing; and while measuring, with high sensitivity, a spectrogram of theoptical pulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarized state, separatingthe spectrogram into two polarized components which are independent of,or orthogonal to, each other.

[0007] According to a second typical aspect of the present invention,there is provided an instrument of optical pulse characterization,wherein: said instrument of optical pulse characterization can select amethod, measurement sensitivity of which is high, by selecting anoptical pulse to be measured, intensity of which has been changed bytwo-photon absorption, and a third optical pulse generated by four-wavemixing, as objects to be measured.

[0008] An optical transmission system according to the present inventioncan be realized by using the above-mentioned instrument of optical pulsecharacterization.

[0009] To be more specific, according to a main mode of the presentinvention, a two-photon transition medium where efficiency of two-photontransition does not depend on polarization is prepared; and an opticalpulse to be measured is split into the optical pulse to be measureditself (probe optical pulse) and a gate optical pulse by a polarizationindependent beam splitter. After adding variable delay time to this gateoptical pulse, the probe optical pulse and the gate optical pulse areentered into a highly efficient two-photon absorption medium so thatboth of the pulses cross each other. Then, in a state in which a newoptical pulse generated by four-wave mixing of the probe optical pulseand the gate optical pulse is spatially separated from the transmittedprobe optical pulse itself so that both of the pulses are discriminated,an optical gate function is generated, and thereby a spectrum of thetransmitted probe optical pulse, or of the optical pulse by four-wavemixing, is resolved before detecting the spectrum by a photodetector. Bymeans of the optical detection, intensity of electric-field absorptionof the optical pulse to be measured is measured as a function of delaytime and a frequency. Thus, characterization by measuring time andfrequency properties of the optical pulse to be measured in an arbitrarypolarized state becomes possible.

[0010] Moreover, optical pulse characterization can also be achieved bythe following steps: using an optical pulse to be measured as a probeoptical pulse, and using an optical pulse independent of the opticalpulse to be measured as a gate optical pulse; and entering both of theoptical pulses into the two-photon transition medium described above. Inthis case, an optical pulse which is free from intensity distortion andphase distortion can be used as the gate optical pulse, which enablesimprovement in accuracy of measurement. Additionally, at the same time,a spectrogram of an optical pulse constituted of different wavelengthcomponents in wavelength-multiplexed communication can be measuredcollectively for a common gate optical pulse.

[0011] Furthermore, high-sensitivity optical pulse characterizationbecomes possible by the following steps: colinearly entering the probeoptical pulse and the gate optical pulse into the two-photon transitionmedium; and utilizing a difference in beat frequency caused byinterference with a reference optical pulse, a carrier frequency ofwhich is different from that of the probe optical pulse, to discriminatebetween the optical pulse to be measured and the optical pulse byfour-wave mixing.

[0012] According to a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an optical communication system comprising: an opticaltransmission line through which an optical pulse propagates; an elementfor compensating chromatic dispersion or polarization mode dispersion;an element for extracting an optical pulse for characterization bydiverting a part of optical power from the optical transmission line; aninstrument of optical pulse characterization, which is connected to theelement for extracting an optical pulse for characterization, accordingto any one of claim 2 through 8; and a control unit by which at leastone of chromatic dispersion, and polarization mode dispersion, of theoptical transmission line is measured by reading properties of awaveform of an optical pulse output from the instrument of optical pulsecharacterization, and thereby at least one of chromatic dispersion andpolarization mode dispersion, which occur in the element forcompensating at least one of chromatic dispersion and polarization modedispersion, is controlled so that, for example, at least one ofchromatic dispersion, and polarization mode dispersion, of the opticaltransmission line is minimized.

[0013] A still further aspect of an optical communication systemaccording to the present invention relates to wavelength-multiplexedtransmission. To be more specific, it is an optical communication systemcomprising: an optical transmission line for wavelength-multiplexedtransmission, through which a wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse istransmitted; an element for compensating at least one of chromaticdispersion, polarization mode dispersion, and propagation time betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels; an element for extracting an opticalpulse for characterization by diverting a part of optical power from theoptical transmission line; an instrument of optical pulsecharacterization, which is connected to the element for extracting anoptical pulse for characterization, according to any one of claim 2through 8; and a control unit by which from among chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and crosstalk betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels, which occur in the optical transmissionline, at least one of them is measured by reading properties of awaveform of an optical pulse output from the instrument of optical pulsecharacterization, and thereby at least one of chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and crosstalk betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels, which occur in the element forcompensating at least one of chromatic dispersion, polarization modedispersion, and crosstalk between wavelength-multiplexed channels, iscontrolled so that, for example, from among chromatic dispersion,polarization mode dispersion, and crosstalk betweenwavelength-multiplexed channels, which occur in the optical transmissionline, at least one of them is minimized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following description of embodiments with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

[0015]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating operation principles ofan instrument of optical pulse characterization according to the presentinvention;

[0016]FIG. 2 is a band structure diagram illustrating a physical processin which optical gate operation occurs;

[0017]FIG. 3 is a band structure diagram illustrating a physical processin which optical gate operation occurs;

[0018]FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure used as atwo-photon absorption medium;

[0019]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating another structure usedas a two-photon absorption medium;

[0020]FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating another structure usedas a two-photon absorption medium;

[0021]FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating results obtained bymeasurement using an instrument of optical pulse characterizationaccording to the present invention;

[0022]FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrumentaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

[0023]FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic diagrams illustrating a process oftwo-photon absorption and a process how a third optical pulse byfour-wave mixing occurs;

[0024]FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationshipbetween an electronic state and an optical amplification area, which areinvolved in two-photon transition;

[0025]FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure wherethere is no optical amplification medium in a two-photon transitionmedium;

[0026]FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a surface structure ofa two-photon transition medium which includes an optical amplificationmedium;

[0027]FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a slab structure of atwo-photon transition medium which includes an optical amplificationmedium;

[0028]FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrumentaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention;

[0029]FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration bywhich polarization dependency of properties of an optical pulse in anoptical fiber transmission line is characterized using apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrument;

[0030]FIGS. 16A to 16C are diagrams illustrating an example ofrelationship between delay time and a wavelength of an optical pulse;

[0031]FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration bywhich properties of an optical pulse in a wavelength-multiplexed opticalfiber transmission line is characterized using apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrument;

[0032]FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationshipbetween delay time and a wavelength of an optical pulse;

[0033]FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of apolarization-independent high-sensitivity optical pulse characterizationinstrument according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

[0034]FIG. 20 is a diagram exemplifying a configuration, by whichdispersion compensation is performed in an optical fiber transmissionsystem, according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention; and

[0035]FIG. 21 is a diagram exemplifying a configuration, by whichdispersion compensation or crosstalk elimination is performed in awavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission system, according to aseventh embodiment of the present invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0036] To begin with, principles of the present invention will bedescribed in detail, and then specific embodiments of the presentinvention will be described.

[0037] [Principles of Optical Pulse Characterization Using Two-PhotonAbsorption Medium, Which Underlies the Present Invention]

[0038] Characterization of an optical pulse being transmitted through anoptical fiber and an optical pulse emitted by an ultrahigh-speedoptoelectronic material/structure is indispensable to development of anultrahigh-speed optical-fiber transmission system and an ultrahigh-speedoptoelectronic element. The optical pulse is in a state in whichamplitude of sine wave vibration of a light wave is not zero only duringa limited period of time. Therefore, in order to characterize theoptical pulse, it is necessary to determine the intensity and phase ofthe optical pulse. If a numerical formula is used, an electric field E(t) of an optical pulse can be expressed as a function of time t asbelow.

E(t)=|E(t)|·e ^(i{−2π∫t+φ(t)})  (1)

[0039] where |E(t)| is field intensity of an optical pulse, i is animaginary unit, f is a frequency, and f(t) is a phase. Becausecharacterization of the optical pulse is based on the formula (1), thecharacterization involves determination of |E(t)| and f(t) anddiscussion about time dependency thereof. In the present invention, adistortionless optical pulse is defined as an optical pulsecharacterized by the following (i) and (ii): (i) As is the case with theGauss function, |E(t)| is symmetric with respect to time, and isunimodal; (ii) f(t) does not have time dependency, in other words, it isconstant. In contrast with this, if the optical pulse has distortion,|E(t)| is not symmetric, but has a number of peaks. Additionally, f(t)becomes time dependent, which is expressed by the following formula;

φ(t)=φ₀+φ⁽¹⁾ ·t+φ ⁽²⁾ ·t ²+φ⁽³⁾ ·t ³+ . . . +φ_(SPM)(t)  (2)

[0040] where a first-order coefficient f⁽⁰⁾ of t is group velocity; acoefficient of second or higher order f^((n)) is quantity relating ton-order group velocity dispersion; and f_(SPM)(t) corresponds to a phaseshift by self-phase modulation of the optical pulse. Usually, f_(SPM)(t)is proportional to differentiation of |E(t)|². The larger thesecoefficients become, the larger distortion of the optical pulse becomes.Judging from the formulas (1) and (2), quantity values which should bedetermined to characterize the optical pulse are |E(t)|, f⁽⁰⁾, f^((n)),and a proportional coefficient in f_(SPM)(t).

[0041] If a time length of the optical pulse is shorter than 1 ps, thatis to say, if its time scale is femtosecond (1 fs=10⁻¹⁵ sec.), anelectric measuring instrument into which a spectroscope and a high-speedphotodetector are combined cannot cope with the time scale. For thisreason, a spectrogram is measured from time and frequency resolutionaccording to correlation between optical pulses; and using thespectrogram, the intensity and phase of the optical pulse to be measuredare replicated by means of a rebuilding algorithm. This is an analysistechnique used in FROG.

[0042] Conventionally, an optical gate function which is achieved bytwo-photon absorption requires optical pulse energy of about 100 nJ.However, selecting a material and a structure in response to awavelength of a band to be measured enables realization of the opticalgate function even for pulse energy of 100 fJ or less or peak power of 1W or less.

[0043] Principles of measurement of an optical-pulse spectrogram on thebasis of the optical gate function utilizing two-photon absorption willbe described with reference to FIG. 1 as below.

[0044] Using a beam splitter, an optical pulse to be measured isseparated into a probe optical pulse, which is an optical pulse to bemeasured, and a gate optical pulse. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematicallyillustrating a configuration of a device for measuring a spectrogram ofa probe optical pulse.

[0045] A two-photon absorption medium 1 is used as a medium forgenerating an optical gate function which is a basic process of time andfrequency resolution. Two-photon absorption is a nonlinear effect whichis complementary to an optical Kerr effect, and this is a process whichdepends on an imaginary part of a nonlinear refractive index (theoptical Kerr effect depends on its real part). The probe optical pulse 2and the gate optical pulse 3 are entered into the two-photon absorptionmedium 1 so that both of the optical pulses cross each other. Here, anelectric field of the probe optical pulse 2 is defined as E_(probe)(t);and power of the gate optical pulse 3 is defined as I gate (t−τ). Inthis case, the first t represents time and the second t represents delaytime. Timing of the gate optical pulse is swept with variable timedelay. In the two-photon absorption medium 1, if there is a part wherethe probe optical pulse 2 overlaps with the gate optical pulse 3 withrespect time, two-photon absorption occurs between both of the pulses,which results in decrease in transmission intensity of the probe opticalpulse 2. Two-photon absorption power P_(TPA) is expressed by a formula(3) as below.

P _(TPA)=β·I_(gate) ·|E _(probe)|²  (3)

[0046] where b is two-photon absorption efficiency. It is to be notedthat because an incidence plane and an emittance plane (transmissionplane) in the two-photon absorption medium 1 is coated so as to achieveanti-reflection, it is assumed that interference caused by reflectionand multiple reflection can be ignored. An optical pulse which isindependent of an optical pulse to be measured can also be used As agate optical pulse.

[0047] Because a distortionless pulse can be used as a gate opticalpulse in this method, the accuracy of measurement can be improved.However, timing synchronization between the optical pulse to be measuredand the gate optical pulse must be one hundredth of an autocorrelationwidth of the pulse or less. Accordingly, it can be easily applied to ameasurement sample, an optical path length of which can be corrected onan optical table in a laboratory.

[0048] In a device configuration in which an incident optical pulse isseparated into a probe optical pulse and a gate optical pulse, if theincident optical pulse is separated so that power of the gate opticalpulse and the probe optical pulse is equal to prescribed incident power,P_(TPA) becomes the largest. In addition, if it is desired that atwo-photon absorption coefficient for |E probe| is made as large aspossible, power should be distributed to the gate optical pulse in sucha manner that a noise level becomes not more than {fraction (1/10)} of asignal. In response to the property of a signal, optimum distributionratio is used. A distribution ratio of power to the gate optical pulseand the probe optical pulse is set by changing reflection, andtransmittance, of a beam splitter. For example, if energy of an opticalpulse is 1 pJ or less, a distribution ratio is set at 1:1. In addition,if energy of an optical pulse is more than 1 pJ, in order to eliminatetwo-photon absorption of the probe optical pulse itself, powerdistribution to the probe optical pulse is limited within the limit ofgreater than or equal to a value which is one hundred times as much as anoise level. In order to select a distribution ratio, the beam splitteris replaced with another beam splitter having different reflectance andtransmittance in turns. Although the latter is superior in usability, atotal thickness of an optical component to be used increases. This mayproduce a problem of a pulse width which is extended by dispersion ofthe optical component.

[0049] As it is clearly understood from the principles, an instrument ofoptical pulse characterization according to the present invention isconfigured in the following manner: a fundamental absorption edgefrequency of an element which constitutes a part, or the whole, of astructure comprising a medium, in which two-photon transition causes achange in transmittance or generates an optical pulse, becomes lowerthan or equal to a value which is twice as high as a central frequencyof an optical pulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarized state; andin addition to it, the fundamental absorption edge frequency becomeshigher than or equal to the sum of the central frequency and a fullwidth at half maximum frequency of a spectrum of the optical pulse to bemeasured. A two-photon absorption medium in which efficiency of afrequency band of an optical pulse to be measured is high is selected Asthe two-photon absorption medium 1. If InP crystal is used in an opticalcommunication band, a wavelength of which ranges from 1300 to 1600 nm,anti-reflection coating in the form of a plane having a thickness of 300mm or less permits a spectrogram of an optical pulse having energy of 1pJ to be measured. If a wavelength is 1500 nm, its optical pulse energyis equivalent to about 7.5×10⁶ as the number of photons. The reason whytwo-photon absorption efficiency of the InP crystal is high issupposedly that one-photon direct transition having high dipole momentefficiency is nearly in an intermediate state. For further increase inefficiency of two-photon absorption, an optical pulse is condensed on atwo-photon absorption medium. A diameter of the condensed beam is from 2to 5 mm. If intensity of the optical pulse to be measured is low, forexample, if pulse energy is less than or equal to 100 fJ or if peakpower is less than or equal to 1 W, optical amplification issimultaneously performed using a two-photon absorption medium, which hasa structure described below, to improve measurement sensitivity. Thisrequires a pump source 7 which produces a gain by pumping light orelectric current. As described below, in the case where opticalamplification is performed in an InGaAs/InP quantum-well opticalwaveguide structure having a length of 200 mm by pumping electriccurrent of 100 mA, if pulse energy of the probe optical pulse 2 is 50 fJand that of the gate optical pulse 3 is also 50 fJ, electric fieldabsorption intensity of the probe optical pulse 2 in the two-photonabsorption medium 1 is 10% of field intensity at the time of incidence(19% if it is converted into power). The resulting change in voltagedetected by the detector 6 is 5 mV or more at a wavelength of 1500 nm.Because a noise level of the detected voltage can be reduced to 50 mV orless, a S/N ratio becomes 100:1 or more.

[0050]FIGS. 2 and 3 are band structure diagrams schematicallyillustrating a process progressing in the two-photon absorption medium1. If the two-photon absorption medium is a solid such as InP,two-photon transition occurs between a valence band and a conductionband. In FIG. 2, a state of a top of the valence band is shown as |0>, astate of a bottom of the conduction band is shown as |1>, and atransition process is indicated by the arrow. In the case of a mediumtargeted in FIG. 2, band gap energy is higher than one-photon energy ofan optical pulse to be measured, and is lower than two-photon energy ofthe optical pulse. In the first place, transition 8 by a gate opticalpulse causes transition to an intermediate state |m>. There is no steadystate in a band gap, but a virtual state only having an infinitesimallife exists there. The infinitesimal life enables an ultrahigh-speedoptical gate function. Transition from the intermediate state |m> to theconduction band occurs as transition 9 by a probe optical pulse. Incontrast with this, even if the transition by the probe optical pulsebecomes transition from a valence band to an intermediate state, or evenif the transition by the gate optical pulse becomes transition from anintermediate state to a conduction band, an obtained response is thesame. The former and the latter processes degenerate from a physicalpoint of view.

[0051] A thickness and a length of the two-photon absorption mediumshould be reduced to a degree that the values can be ignored ({fraction(1/50)} or less) as compared with a spectrum width and anautocorrelation width of the optical pulse measured when optical pulseextension by group velocity dispersion of a medium enters. Thisrequires, for example, dispersion measurement to obtain a rough standardof an upper limit of a medium length, as described in IEEE J. QuantumElectron, 1991, Vol. 27, pp. 1280-1287, by K. Naganuma and H. Yasaka. IfInP crystal is used, an optical pulse having a spectrum width of 20 nmand an autocorrelation pulse width of 100 fs at a wavelength of 1500 nmshould have a thickness of 300 mm or less.

[0052] Because two-photon absorption is a third-order nonlinear opticaleffect, an imaginary part (absorption) of a third-order nonlinearcoefficient is involved. However, if an absorption coefficient isintensity dependent, a refractive index as a real part also becomesintensity dependent, causing the refractive index to change in responseto a change in intensity of the optical pulse with time. The change inrefractive index with time is equivalent to a change in optical pathlength with time. Therefore, spectrum modulation of an optical pulse bya Doppler shift of a light wave is performed. As a result, a spectrum ofan emitted optical pulse is different from a spectrum of an incidentpulse. The effect which is called self-phase modulation cannot beavoided as long as a nonlinear optical effect is used for an opticalgate. However, it is possible to reduce the self-phase modulation bysuppressing optical pulse energy. A spectrum of transmitting probe andgate optical pulses is compared with that of probe and gate opticalpulses before incidence. Then, incident pulse energy is adjusted so thatit does not change within range of a noise level. On this point, whenInP crystal is used, a standard of an upper limit of pulse energy isfrom 100 to 500 pJ when a condensed beam diameter is from 2 to 5 mm. Itis to be noted that if a two-photon absorption medium is an InPmaterial, and when optical amplification is simultaneously performed, astandard value of this upper limit is in inversely proportional to again.

[0053] When optical amplification is simultaneously performed, it isnecessary to embed an amplification medium simultaneously. In theamplification medium, as shown in FIG. 3, a band gap between a top of avalence band |0′>and a bottom of a conduction band |1′> should besmaller than one-photon energy, which is in a gain area 10. A gainenergy width DE_(gain), and an energy position of the gain area, are setso as to cover an energy area corresponding to a spectrum width of theoptical pulse to be measured. There is a possibility that two-photonabsorption will occur even in an amplification medium. In such a case,assuming that a virtual state in a conduction band is an intermediatestate |m′>, transition 8 and 9 by the gate optical pulse and the probeoptical pulse will occur.

[0054] Three ways of building a structure of the two-photon absorptionmedium 1 are shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6. If the structure is notaccompanied by amplification, as shown in FIG. 4, a structure to whichanti-reflection coating is applied on an incidence plane 12 and atransmission plane 13 of a two-photon absorbing material 11 is used. Inthe optical communication band described above, InP having a thicknessof 200 mm is used as the two-photon absorbing material 11. In awavelength band different from the above-mentioned band, a material,energy of which is larger than one-photon energy and smaller thantwo-photon energy, and which is characterized by high efficiency oftwo-photon absorption, is used. For example, in a wavelength band ofabout 800 through 1000 nm, GaAs, ZnSe, In_(1-x)Al_(x)As, andIn_(1-x)Ga_(x)P are appropriate. In response to a target wavelength, acomposition ratio 1-x:x is set. In this connection, in the figure, inrepresents light incidence, and out represents light emittance. In andout are also used in a similar manner in drawings mentioned below.

[0055]FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate an example that can be used when anamplification medium is included. To be more specific, FIG. 5illustrates a surface type structure, and FIG. 6 illustrates a waveguidetype structure. In the optical communication band, anIn_(1-x)Ga_(x)As/InP quantum well is appropriate as the surface typestructure. An In_(1-x)Ga_(x)As/InP quantum well in which 50 periodslamination is performed is used.

[0056] In FIG. 5, a two-photon absorption layer 14 and an amplificationlayer 15 are mainly an InP barrier and an In_(1-x)Ga_(x)As quantum wellrespectively. However, two-photon absorption occurs simultaneously evenin a quantum well layer. Here, when x=0.47, lattice matching with InP isachieved. At a wavelength of 1500 nm, a thickness of a quantum well is 7nm, and a barrier has a thickness of 10 nm. Optical pumping 16 isperformed to produce a gain. As is the case with FIG. 4, anti-reflectioncoating is provided on an incidence plane and a transmission plane.

[0057]FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a single-mode optical waveguidetype. An active region 17 is the In_(1-x)Ga_(x)As/InP quantum well whichis the same as FIG. 5. However, it has five periods. In order to changea quantum well into an amplification medium, current injection 18 isperformed. In a waveguide, a PIN junction is formed in a currentinjection direction. This structure functions as a semiconductorwaveguide type optical amplifier. An injected current level is adjustedso as to avoid gain from saturating caused by an incident probe opticalpulse and an incident gate optical pulse. Because an incidence plane anda transmission plane reduce internal reflection, the planes are slantedfrom a surface which is perpendicular to a travelling direction of lightin a waveguide (q=5 ), and as is the case with FIG. 4, anti-reflectioncoating is provided. The waveguide has a length of 200 mm.

[0058]FIG. 7 outlines measured properties. The physical quantity to bemeasured is intensity of electric-field absorption |A(f,t)| bytwo-photon absorption of a probe optical pulse, which is a function of afrequency f and delay time t. Although the frequency f and the delaytime t are repeatedly swept, the frequency is swept faster than delaytime. In this case, |A(f,t)| is measured for a certain constant delaytime.

[0059] A left graph in FIG. 7 illustrates a waveform obtained at thistime. Measuring |A(f,t)| while changing delay time in successionprovides, as a right graph in FIG. 1G, properties of |A(f,t)| for whichtime and frequency resolution has been performed. In this connection, aspectrogram S(f,t) is represented by an numerical expression illustratedin FIG. 7.

|A(f,τ)|∝S(f,τ)=|∫dtE _(probe)(t)I _(gate)(t−τ)e^(−i2πft)|  (4)

[0060] According to this numerical expression, S(f,t) is proportional to|A(f,t)|. Accordingly, time and frequency properties of the opticalpulse to be measured can be obtained from time and frequency resolveddata of field intensity in two-photon absorption of the probe opticalpulse. As is the case with the prior art, optical pulse characterizationcan be achieved by rebuilding the time and frequency properties inintensity and a phase.

[0061] [Disadvantages of a Technique in Which an Optical Pulse to beMeasured and a Gate Optical Pulse are Colinearly Entered in a Two-PhotonAbsorption Medium]

[0062] It is to be noted that as a method for improving measurementsensitivity, colinear placement by which a gate optical pulse and aprobe optical pulse are overlaid on an axis is conventionally adopted.However, the colinear placement produces problems, which wereconventionally ignored. Attention should be paid to the problems, andtherefore some measures should be taken for the problems. The problemsare caused by the following: a state excited by two-photon transitionforms a coherent state which is free from phase disturbance; and whenthe coherent state is induced by other optical pulses and therebyrelieved to a ground state, a third optical pulse, that is to say, anoptical pulse by four-wave mixing, is generated. For example, a coherentstate, which has been created by two-photon transition of a gate opticalpulse, is induced by an electric field of a probe optical pulse (opticalpulse to be measured), resulting in generation of an optical pulse byfour-wave mixing. This third optical pulse by four-wave mixing is in thesame polarized state as that of the probe optical pulse. In the colinearplacement, the third optical pulse propagates in the same direction asthe probe optical pulse. Therefore, the third optical pulse and theprobe optical pulse interfere with each other, causing noise. Because aratio of created coherent states was considered to be low in the past,noise caused by a conflict between two-photon absorption and four-wavemixing was ignored. However, it is found out that intensity of the thirdoptical pulse by four-wave mixing is almost the same as an absolutevalue of a change in intensity of a probe optical pulse by two-photonabsorption. Because of it, if colinear placement is adopted to improvesensitivity, it is necessary to provide a new means for discriminatingbetween the third optical pulse and the probe optical pulse by four-wavemixing. The present invention provides a means for discriminatingbetween the probe optical pulse and the third optical pulse by newlyusing a reference optical pulse. The pulses are discriminated judgingfrom difference in beat frequency caused by interference with thereference optical pulse. This enables elimination of noise generated byinterference between a probe optical pulse and the third optical pulseby four-wave mixing, which occurs in the conventional techniques of weakoptical pulse characterization by colinear placement.

[0063] First Embodiment

[0064] To begin with, an example of spectrogram measurement using aconfiguration in which an optical pulse to be measured in an arbitrarypolarized state is used as a probe optical pulse and a gate opticalpulse, and principles of polarization independent spectrogrammeasurement, will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an instrument ofoptical pulse characterization according to this embodiment. FIGS. 9Aand 9B is a diagram illustrating a quantum process in the cases oftwo-photon absorption process (9A) and four-wave mixing (9B).Specifications of the optical pulse to be measured are as follows:central wavelength is 1550 nm; pulse width is 200 fs; spectrum width is15 nm; pulse energy is 10 pJ; and pulse repetition rate is 10 GHz.

[0065] Using a polarization independent beam splitter 102, an opticalpulse to be measured 101 in an arbitrary polarized state is separatedinto a probe optical pulse 103, which is an optical pulses to bemeasured, and a gate optical pulse 104. Specifications of thepolarization independent beam splitter 102 are as follows: both oftransmittance and reflectance of s polarized light are 48% at awavelength of 1550 nm (error of ±1%); both of transmittance andreflectance of p polarized light are also 48% at a wavelength of 1550 nm(error of ±1%); and centering at 1550 nm, within a wavelength range of50 nm, fluctuations in transmittance and reflectance for s and ppolarized light are 5% or less. Variable delay time is added to the gateoptical pulse 104 by a polarization independent roof retroreflector 105which is translationally driven backward and forward. For elimination ofa background component, and noise reduction, by lock-in detection, theprobe optical pulse 103 and the gate optical pulse 104 are modulated bylight intensity modulators 106 and 107 respectively, or only the gateoptical pulse 104 is modulated by the light intensity modulator 107. Ifresidual light intensity of the gate optical pulse is high and therebyits background component produces a problem of measurement, both pulsesare modulated. If not, modulation of only the gate optical pulse 104suffices. In the former case, as modulation electric frequencies for theprobe optical pulse 103 and the gate optical pulse 104, 1020 kHz and 850kHz are provided respectively. As a reference electric frequency (ref.)of lock-in detection, 170 kHz which is a difference frequency isprovided. If only the gate optical pulse 104 is modulated, both of themodulation electric frequency and the reference electric frequency are170 kHz. If FIG. 8 is roughly divided, an upper half of the figureillustrates a two-photon correlation optical system where a symbol Mindicates a polarization independent total reflection mirror.

[0066] The probe optical pulse 103 and the gate optical pulse 104 arecondensed through a condenser lens 108 before they are entered into atwo-photon transition medium 109. The condenser lens 108 is anaspherical lens having a focus length of 10 mm. A diameter of acondensed beam is 10 μm. The two-photon transition medium 109 is InPcrystal having a thickness of 0.3 mm, an incidence plane and anemittance plane of which are provided with anti-reflection coating. Ifeach of incident angles of the probe optical pulse 103 and the gateoptical pulse 104 is 5 degrees or less with reference to a normal lineto a surface of the InP crystal on which anti-reflection coating isprovided, it is substantially polarization independent of two-photontransition (change is 6% or less). Because antireflection coating isprovided, reflection from the two-photon transition medium 109 can beignored.

[0067] The transmitted gate optical pulse is shielded by a beam block111. As other optical pulses which are emitted, there are a transmittingprobe optical pulse 112 and a third optical pulse 113 by four-wavemixing.

[0068] Intensity of the transmitting probe optical pulse 112 changes bytwo-photon absorption in the two-photon transition medium 109. FIG. 9Aschematically illustrated a two-photon absorption process which causes achange in intensity of the transmitting probe optical pulse 112. Whenthe gate optical pulse 201 and the probe optical pulse 202 entersimultaneously, two-photon absorption occurs, causing an electron tochange from an initial state |0> to an end state |1>. An intermediatestate |m> is a virtual state. In other words, in a wavelength band or afrequency band in proximity to the intermediate state, there is no realstate. Accordingly, one-photon transition does not occur. However, thenearer a wavelength, or a frequency, of the intermediate stateapproaches a wavelength, or a frequency, of a fundamental absorptionedge by one-photon transition in the two-photon transition medium, thehigher efficiency of two-photon transition increases. However, if it istoo near, real excitation by one photon and an absorption edge shift bymany-body effect are caused, resulting in degradation of the opticalgate function. A rough standard for obtaining an efficient optical gatefunction by two-photon transition is given as follows: a frequency of afundamental absorption edge of the two-photon transition medium is lowerthan or equal to a value which is twice as high as a central frequencyof an incident optical pulse; and in addition to it, the frequency ofthe fundamental absorption edge of the two-photon transition medium ishigher than or equal to the sum of the central frequency of the opticalpulse and a value which is ten times as high as a full width at halfmaximum frequency of a spectrum. It is to be noted that even if the gateoptical pulse 201 and the probe optical pulse 202 are swapped with eachother in FIG. 9A, an occurring phenomenon is equivalent. Whendetermining a thickness of the two-photon transition medium, it is to beensured that chromatic dispersion in the two-photon transition mediumdoes not cause an optical pulse to spread.

[0069]FIG. 9B schematically illustrates a process in which the thirdoptical pulse 113 is generated by four-wave mixing. A gate optical pulse203 causes two-photon transition from an initial state |0> to an endstate |1> through a virtual intermediate state |m>. If coherence of theend state is kept, relaxation of radiation to an initial state inducedby a probe optical pulse 204 occurs, which generates the third opticalpulse 205. Even if the probe optical pulse 204 and the third opticalpulse 205 are swapped with each other, the process is equivalent. In thecase of the two-photon transition medium at a room temperature, a periodof time during which coherence of an end state is kept is extremelyshort. At a pulse width of about 100 fs, coherence is substantially keptonly when the gate optical pulse 203 and the probe optical pulse 204enter simultaneously. This fact indicates that the four-wave mixingfunctions as an ultrahigh-speed optical gate. The two-photon absorptionand the four-wave mixing, which have been described here, are processeswhich conflict with each other. When intensity of the gate optical pulseis nearly equal to that of the probe optical pulse, both processes canbe achieved similarly. However, because the four-wave mixing requirescoherence in an end state, intensity of the four-wave mixing is ingeneral lower than that of the two-photon absorption. Accordingly, ifthe probe optical pulse 112, intensity of which has been changed bytwo-photon absorption, is used as an optical pulse to be measured,sensitivity often becomes high. Nevertheless, when measuring intensityof two-photon absorption, it is necessary to eliminate transmissionintensity of the probe optical pulse 112 by lock-in detection.Therefore, there is fear of degradation of sensitivity caused byresidual noise of transmission intensity. Such degradation ofsensitivity becomes serious if the optical pulse to be measured includesa residual background component which becomes noise such as a pedestal.If background noise by a pedestal produces a problem, the third pulse113 by four-wave mixing may be used as the optical pulse to be measured114. In this connection, in the processes in FIG. 9A, attention shouldbe given to the fact that a sign of a delay time axis of a spectrogramis inverted. In addition, because there is no background component oftransmitted light in four-wave mixing, if sensitivity of opticaldetection is high, it is not necessary to perform lock-in detection. Insuch a case, optical pulse characterization can be achieved by aconfiguration excluding a light intensity modulator and a lock-inamplifier. In this case, because there is no limit of sweep time by asignal integration time constant in the lock-in amplifier, high speedsweep is possible as long as delay time and a spectrum sweep systemrespond.

[0070] When analyzing influence of polarization mode dispersion, only aspecific polarized component of the optical pulse to be measured 114 isextracted using a polarized separation element 115. If a spectrogram forpolarized two components, which are independent of each other ororthogonal to each other, is measured by rotating a polarized axis ofthe polarized separation element, it is possible to distinguish adifference in optical pulse property resulting from polarization, whichenables characterization of polarization mode dispersion. If allpolarized components are measured without resolving them into polarizedcomponents, removing the polarized separation element 115 from anoptical path of the optical pulse to be measured suffices. Here, alinear polarizer is used as the polarized separation element 115 tomeasure a spectrogram for linear polarization of two componentsorthogonal to each other, and thereby polarization dependency isanalyzed.

[0071] The lower part of FIG. 8 illustrates a chromatic dispersion unit.A part of an optical pulse to be measured, or all polarized components,are condensed on an incident slit 117 of the chromatic dispersion unitby a condenser lens 116. The optical pulse to be measured 114 whichpassed through the incident slit 117 is changed to parallel luminousflux by an incident-side spherical mirror 118. Then, chromaticdispersion is performed for the optical pulse to be measured 114 on apolarization independent diffraction grating 119. The optical pulse tobe measured 114, for which chromatic dispersion has been performed, isreflected by an emittance side spherical mirror 120 and a rotationmirror 121. Then, image formation as a chromatic dispersion image isperformed on an emittance slit 122. A rotating mirror 121 has aconfiguration in which a polarization-independent total-reflection platemirror is mounted to a rotation axis of a motor producing repetitiverotational motion around one axis so that a reflection plane is providedin a plane parallel to the rotation axis, a center of which is includedin the plane. The rotating mirror 121 is secured in such a manner that acentral axis of the optical pulse to be measured 114, in a travelingdirection, which is reflected by an emittance side spherical mirror 120,is orthogonal to the rotation axis of the rotating mirror 121. Detectingintensity of the optical pulse to be measured 114 passing through anemittance slit 122 by a photodetector 123 in synchronization withrotation of the mirror enables measurement of change in light intensityresulting from wavelength sweep. A detected electric signal from thephotodetector 123 is inputted into a lock-in amplifier 124 where lock-indetection is performed for a reference electric frequency (ref.) fromthe light intensity modulators 106 and 107. 0.1 ms is given to anintegration time constant in the lock-in amplifier 124. A spectrogramcan be obtained by measuring an output voltage from the lock-inamplifier 124 as a function of a wavelength reference signal (λ-base)and a delay time reference signal (τ-base). If the optical pulse to bemeasured 114 is the transmitting probe optical pulse 112, an outputsignal from the lock-in amplifier 124 is proportional to intensity oftwo-photon absorption. If the optical pulse to be measured 114 is thethird optical pulse 113 by four-wave mixing, the output signal from thelock-in amplifier 124 is proportional to intensity of transientdiffraction by four-wave mixing. A display/analyzing unit 125 takescharge of the following work: displaying a spectrogram in real time; andcalculating a change with time in intensity of an optical pulse, achange with time in phase of the optical pulse, and change in wavelength(or frequency), from the spectrogram. A wavelength reference signal canbe obtained by converting an output signal of an angle sensor into awavelength. The angle sensor is mounted to a rotation axis of therotating mirror 122. A delay time reference signal can be obtained byconverting an output signal of a position sensor into delay time. Theposition sensor is mounted on a translational driving unit of thepolarization independent roof retroreflector 105. A sweep rate forwavelength sweep is 80 Hz; and a sweep rate for delay time sweep is 0.56Hz. Accordingly, one frame spectrogram can be obtained at every 1.8second. The number of pixels for wavelength sweep is 128; and the numberof pixels for delay time sweep is also 128. At the time of measurementwhich uses four-wave mixing as an optical gate, if lock-in detection isnot used, there is no limit of sweep time by an integration timeconstant, which enables acquisition of one frame spectrogram at every0.1 second.

[0072] Second Embodiment

[0073] If it is difficult to measure a spectrogram because energy of anoptical pulse to be measured is low, providing a two-photon transitionmedium and an optical amplification medium at the same time enablesincrease in measurement sensitivity. At a wavelength of 1550 nm, anoptical amplification medium has, for example, an In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)Asquantum well having a thickness of 10 nm. Current injection, or opticalpumping, into this quantum well causes population inversion. As aresult, the quantum well functions as an amplification medium in thewavelength area. In addition, an InGaAsP quaternary compound film whichhas a fundamental absorption edge in the same wavelength area can alsobe used. FIG. 10 illustrates a state of an electron when there is anamplification medium. For an initial state |0>, a virtual intermediatestate |m>, and an end state |1>, of an InP two-photon transition medium,an optical amplification area 301 is distributed over an area whichincludes the virtual intermediate state |m>(illustrated by oblique linesin the figure). Reserving a wavelength width αλ of the opticalamplification area 301 so that αλ becomes more than or equal to a valuewhich is three times as wide as a wavelength width of the optical pulseto be measured enables amplification in a state in which a shape of aspectrum of the optical pulse to be measured is saved. Additionally,care should be taken not to saturate a gain of an optical amplificationmedium. If a gain is saturated, a waveform of the optical pulse to bemeasured becomes distorted, which hinders correct measurement.

[0074]FIGS. 12 and 13 are perspective views illustrating a two-photontransition medium which includes an optical amplification medium. FIG.11 is used for comparison with the above; that is to say, this figure isa perspective view illustrating a medium which does not include theoptical amplification medium. If the optical amplification medium is notincluded, the two-photon transition medium is, for example, InP crystal400 on which anti-reflection coating is provided, as described in thefirst embodiment. FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a surface structurewhich includes the optical amplification medium. In this case, a layer403 which includes the optical amplification medium is laminated on theInP crystal 400 (thickness is 0.2 mm). The layer 403 which includes theoptical amplification medium is provided on the incidence plane side. Inthis connection, as is the case with FIG. 11, anti-reflection coating isprovided on an incidence plane and an emittance plane. If the layer 403which includes the optical amplification medium is exemplified, it is alayer on which 50 period lamination is performed by using the followingas a barrier: an In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As quantum well having a thickness of10 nm; and an InGaAsP (thickness is 10 nm), a fundamental absorptionedge wavelength of which is 1250 nm. Entering exciting light 407 from aexciting light source 406 into this structure produces a gain in anarea, a center of which is the virtual intermediate state in FIG. 10. Alaser diode which oscillates at a wavelength of about 980 nm is used asthe exciting light source 406. Using this structure as a substitute fortwo-photon transition medium 109 described in the first embodimentenables increase in measurement sensitivity by ten times.

[0075] Use of a slab structure shown in FIG. 13 also enables increase insensitivity similarly. As a layer 408 which includes an opticalamplification medium, an optical waveguide layer which includes thefollowing is used: an In_(0.53)Ga_(0.47)As quantum well having athickness of 10 nm, and having five periods centrally; and an InGaAsP(thickness is 10 nm) barrier pair, a fundamental absorption edgewavelength of which is 1250 nm. In this connection, reference numeral400 is InP crystal. When producing a gain by optical pumping, excitinglight 412 from the exciting light source 411 is used. Specifications ofthe exciting light source 411, which are the same as those shown in FIG.12, are used. When producing a gain by optical waveguide currentinjection, it is required that the optical waveguide layer forms acurrent injection junction. Therefore, the InP crystal to be used, whichis a substrate on which these layers are laminated, must haveconductivity. A lead wire 414 used for current injection from a currentinjection source 413 is connected to the top surface of the layer 408which includes the optical amplification medium. On the back of thesubstrate, antireflection coating is provided on an incidence plane andan emittance plane, having a slab structure, on which earth connectionis made. As described in the first embodiment, the probe optical pulse409 and the gate optical pulse 410 should enter in a lateral direction;that is to say, the pulses should enter while crossing each other in asurface parallel to a substrate surface. Moreover, it is necessary todefine a width in a lateral direction of a slab waveguide layer so thatthe transmitting probe optical pulse and the third optical pulse byfour-wave mixing can be extracted. In a structure having a length of 0.2mm, 0.04 mm or more is required for a width in a lateral direction ofthe slab waveguide layer in FIG. 12.

[0076] In the above-mentioned layer which includes the opticalamplification medium, there is no InGaAs quantum well which becomes anamplification medium. Therefore, measurement sensitivity increases evenif only an InGaAsP barrier is used. The reason is that a wavelength of afundamental absorption edge of the InGaAsP barrier is longer than thatof InP, and is near to a central wavelength of the optical pulse to bemeasured, resulting in increase in intensity of an oscillator intransition through a virtual intermediate state. Accordingly, increasein measurement sensitivity is achieved only by laminating InGaAsP, whichis provided on the InP substrate as the barrier, by a thickness of about1 μm.

[0077] Third Embodiment

[0078] A case where an optical pulse which is different from a probeoptical pulse is used as a gate optical pulse will be described withreference to FIG. 14. A gate optical pulse 501 is required to have thesame repetition rate as that of a probe optical pulse 502 which is anoptical pulse to be measured. Therefore, clock extraction is performedfor a repetition rate of the optical pulse to be measured, and then thegate optical pulse 501 is generated using the clock. If a time length ofthe optical pulse to be measured is long (for example, 10 ps or more),or if the optical pulse to be measured is in a state in whichindependent pulses stretch in a row, as described in the firstembodiment, use of the optical pulse to be measured as a gate opticalpulse causes a spectrogram to become complicated, resulting indifficulty in analyzing optical pulse properties. In such a case, if asingle ultrashort optical pulse, which is in a Fourier transform limit,is used as the gate optical pulse 501 to measures a spectrogram by adevice which uses a configuration shown in FIG. 14, analysis of opticalpulse properties becomes easy. A disadvantage is that resolution ofmeasuring time depends on accuracy of clock extraction from the opticalpulse to be measured. Because the gate optical pulse 501 is independentof the probe optical pulse 502, a polarization independent beam splitteris not required. The other parts are the same as a device configurationshown in FIG. 8. Therefore, a method for improving sensitivity describedin the second embodiment can be applied.

[0079] Fourth Embodiment

[0080] Examples in which the polarization-independent optical pulsecharacterization instrument described in the first, second, and thirdembodiments is used for characterization of an optical pulse propagatingthrough an optical fiber transmission line will be described withreference to FIGS. 15 through 17. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating aconfiguration example of optical pulse characterization in an opticalfiber transmission line according to this embodiment. FIGS. 16A to 16Care diagrams illustrating an example of relation between time andwavelength properties of an optical pulse and a polarized component.FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of opticalpulse characterization in an optical fiber transmission line at the timeof wavelength-multiplexed communication. FIG. 18 is a diagramillustrating relationship between delay time, and a wavelength, of anoptical pulse.

[0081]FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a device which has theconfiguration described in the first embodiment; in this case, a gateoptical pulse generates an optical pulse to be measured through apolarization independent beam splitter. An optical fiber transmissionline 601 is a transmission line having a total length of 100 km, towhich a dispersion compensation single mode optical fiber, a dispersionshift single mode optical fiber, and a normal dispersion single-modeoptical fiber are connected. Total group velocity dispersion is 0, andoptical pulse modification by a nonlinear effect is also suppressed. Inthis transmission line, chromatic dispersion is controlled by athird-order operator. In addition, because a distance is long, influenceof polarization mode dispersion cannot be ignored. For this reason, anoptical pulse is amplified by an optical amplifier 602 in advancewithout changing a waveform before the spectrogram measurement. If theloss does not produce a problem, the optical amplifier 602 may beomitted. The optical pulse to be measured is converted into parallelluminous flux by an optical fiber connecting unit 603, and then theparallel luminous flux is entered into a spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 604. A configuration of the spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 604 is the same as that illustrated in FIG. 8. In orderto improve sensitivity, a structure shown in FIG. 12 is adopted as atwo-photon transition medium. Judging from the measurement which doesnot use a polarized separation element, it is found out that an opticalpulse which has propagated through the optical fiber transmission line601 contains two components, each of which has a parabolically distortedwaveform mainly because of the third-order chromatic dispersion. Inaddition, a linear polarization element which is a polarized separationelement is rotated by 90 degrees to measure a spectrogram for linearpolarization of the two orthogonal components. As a result, time andwavelength properties of the optical pulse is separated by a polarizedcomponent, and thereby waveform distortion by polarization modedispersion can be characterized concurrently with chromatic dispersion.In examples in FIGS. 16A to 16C, when polarization is orthogonal, pulsecomponents are completely separated on a delay time axis, whichindicates that it is caused by first-order polarization mode dispersion.This method is also effective for characterization of second orderpolarization mode dispersion. In this case, it is discriminated by thefact that if polarization is different, a wavelength component differs.

[0082] A configuration shown in FIG. 17 is used for characterizingproperties of pulse propagation in a wavelength-multiplexed opticalfiber transmission line 701 through which optical pulses propagates; thenumber of the optical pulses is N, and each channel has a wavelength ofλ1 through λN. A wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse train isequivalent to a case where independent pulses stretches in a row toconstitute an optical pulse to be measured as described in the thirdembodiment. Accordingly, a part of energy of an optical pulse (forexample, λ1) in a certain one channel is extracted from a clock opticalpulse extracting port 702, and is then entered into a gate optical pulsegenerating unit 704 through a clock optical pulse extracting opticalfiber 703. An optical pulse of a Fourier transform limit is generatedfrom a pulse of a channel 1 as a gate optical pulse, is passed through agate optical pulse inputting optical fiber 705, and is then convertedinto parallel luminous flux by an optical fiber connecting unit for gateoptical pulse 706 before the parallel luminous flux is entered into aspectrogram measurement analyzing unit 709. The spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 709 has the configuration described in the thirdembodiment. On the other hand, if intensity of the optical pulse to bemeasured constituted of a wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse is low,the intensity is amplified so as to avoid distortion of an optical pulsewaveform in an optical amplifier 707. After that, the optical pulse tobe measured is converted into parallel luminous flux by an optical fiberconnecting unit for optical pulse to be measured 708, and then theparallel luminous flux is entered into a spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 709. This configuration enables the followingcharacterization: group velocity dispersion of an optical pulse for eachchannel; a difference in time and wavelength properties by polarizationmode dispersion; and a pulse delay between channels.

[0083] Fifth Embodiment

[0084] In the embodiments described above, in order to discriminatebetween optical gate operation by four-wave mixing and that bytwo-photon absorption, a gate optical pulse and a probe optical pulseare entered into a two-photon transition medium so that the pulses crosseach other, and thereby a transmitting probe optical pulse and the thirdoptical pulse by four-wave mixing are spatially separated. However, inthe case of the crossing incidence, beam overlapping of a gate opticalpulse and a probe optical pulse is limited to a part of the two-photontransition medium. Therefore, it is difficult to improve efficiency ofan optical gate so as to increase measurement sensitivity. For thisreason, the gate optical pulse and the probe optical pulse are enteredon the same axis so that the gate optical pulse and the probe opticalpulse interact in the whole two-photon transition medium area toincrease efficiency of an optical gate, leading to high sensitivitycharacterization. Such an example will be described with reference toFIG. 19. In this example, it is not possible to separate spatially atransmitting probe optical pulse from a third optical pulse by four-wavemixing. Therefore, after the transmitting probe optical pulse and thethird optical pulse pass through an optical frequency shifter, thepulses interfere with a reference optical pulse. Then, the pulses areseparated using a difference between beat frequencies caused by theinterference.

[0085] An optical pulse to be measured 801 is passed through an opticalfrequency shifter 802 to extract a reference optical pulse 803. As theoptical frequency shifter 802, for example, an optical frequency shifterwhich uses acousto-optic crystal, and which is not polarizationdependent in a spectrum to be measured, is selected. A carrier frequencyof the reference optical pulse 803 shifts upward only by 80 MHz. Theoptical pulse to be measured, which has passed through the opticalfrequency shifter 802, is given to another optical frequency shifter 804(equivalent to 802) where the optical pulse to be measured is separatedinto a probe optical pulse 805 and a gate optical pulse 806. A carrierfrequency of the probe optical pulse shifts upward only by 81 MHz. Thegate optical pulse 806 is intensity-modulated with a frequency of 170kHz by a light intensity modulator 807. Then, variable delay time isadded to the gate optical pulse 806 by a polarization independent roofretroreflector 808 which is translationally driven backward and forward.A reference frequency for lock-in detection is 170 kHz. In FIG. 19, asymbol M indicates a polarization independent total reflection mirror.The probe optical pulse 805 and the gate optical pulse 806 are directedto the same axis by a polarization independent beam coupler 809, and arethen condensed on an incidence plane of a two-photon transition medium811 by a condenser lens 810. All optical pulses emitted by an emittanceplane of the two-photon transition medium 811 are converted intoparallel luminous flux by a collimation lens 812. As the two-photontransition medium 811, a semiconductor optical waveguide amplifier(polarization dependence is 1 dB or less) in a single lateral mode isused. The optical amplification area 301 in FIG. 10 covers a spectrum ofthe optical pulse to be measured 801. All optical pulses emitted fromthe two-photon transition medium 811 are interfered with the referenceoptical pulse 803 by another polarized beam coupler 813. Because carrierfrequencies differ from each other by the optical frequency shifters 802and 804, a beat occurs at the different frequencies. If the referenceoptical pulse 803 interferes with a transmitting probe optical pulse, atransmitting gate optical pulse, a four-wave mixing optical pulse byprobe optical pulse two-photon transition, or a four-wave mixing opticalpulse by gate optical pulse two-photon transition, the frequency becomes1 MHz, 80 MHz, 82 MHz, or 161 MHz respectively.

[0086] An example in which an optical gate by two-photon absorption isutilized will be described as below. If an optical gate by four-wavemixing is used, a transmission center frequency of a band-pass filterdescribe below is changed to the one equivalent to a beat frequency, andthereby measurement is performed according to the points to be attendedto as described in the first embodiment.

[0087] To begin with, it is necessary to stabilize a phase of a beatcaused by interference. In order to achieve the stabilization, fromamong light intensity components received by a photodetector 814, a beatcomponent of the probe optical pulse, which has experienced fluctuationsin intensity by two-photon absorption, is extracted by a band-passfilter 815. The band-pass filter 815 includes a transmission band havinga central frequency of 1 MHz, and having a width of 200 kHz. Referringto a phase of the beat component, and giving an inverted component of areference phase as feedback to a polarization independent roofretroreflector for phase control 817 by a phase controller 816, enablestabilization of a beat phase. If a phase of the beat component isstable from the beginning, the feedback is not necessary.

[0088] Another equivalent beam generated in a polarization independentbeam coupler 813 is led to a chromatic dispersion unit which is similarto that shown in FIG. 1. Then, using a band-pass filter 820, only thebeat component is extracted from among the light signals received by aphotodetector 819, and lock-in detection is performed by a lock-inamplifier 821 with reference to an intensity modulation signal of a gateoptical pulse to display a two-photon absorption spectrogram on adisplay/analyzing unit 822. As a result, for an optical pulse to bemeasured which has a pulse width of 200 fs, sensitivity can be increasedup to a lowest detectable pulse energy of 10 fJ.

[0089] Sixth Embodiment

[0090] In the fourth embodiment, a method for characterizing a pulsepropagating through an optical fiber transmission line was describedwith reference to FIG. 15. Here, in this embodiment, a configuration inwhich on the basis of characterized waveform data, dispersioncompensation, or an optical pulse waveform, in an optical fibertransmission system is optimized to decrease an error rate at the timeof signal transmission will be described as below. FIG. 20 is a diagramillustrating a configuration example of an optical communication systemwhich performs dispersion compensation of an optical fiber. In thiscase, dispersion means chromatic dispersion or polarization modedispersion. It is assumed that an optical pulse 901 before dispersioncompensation propagates from left to right through an optical fibertransmission line 902 constituting a target transmission system. For thepurpose of compensating chromatic dispersion or polarization modedispersion, a dispersion compensator 903 is connected in the middle ofthe optical fiber transmission line. In order to extract an opticalpulse for monitoring 905, an optical pulse monitoring port 904 isprovided behind the dispersion compensator 903. The optical pulse formonitoring 905 is passed through an optical fiber for monitoring 906 tosplit the optical pulse for monitoring 905 into three paths leading tospectrogram measurement analyzing units 907 through 909. As comparedwith the quantity of dispersion occurring in the optical fibertransmission line 902, dispersion occurring in the optical fiber formonitoring 906 is suppressed to a level which can be ignored. Thespectrogram measurement analyzing units 907 through 909 are configuredin the same manner as the instrument of optical pulse characterizationshown in FIG. 8 or 19. Connection to the optical fiber for monitoring906 follows a configuration in FIG. 15. The spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 907 is used for chromatic dispersion characterization inall polarization components. If further reduction in polarizationdependency of the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907 isrequired, connecting polarization eliminating element 910 to the frontpart of the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907 suffices. If onlychromatic dispersion is characterized, connecting it to only thespectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907 is required. Connection tothe other two spectrogram measurement analyzing units 908 and 909 can beomitted. When characterizing optical pulse distortion by polarizationmode dispersion, it is necessary to measure a spectrogram in biaxialpolarization components orthogonal to each other. Here, through apolarized beam splitter 911, the optical pulse is split into two linearpolarization components; one is in a horizontal direction, and the otheris in a vertical direction in the figure. The component in a verticaldirection in the figure is characterized by the spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 908; and the component in a horizontal direction ischaracterized by the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 909. Thefollowing is transmitted to a dispersion control unit 912 as waveformdata: a spectrogram; or peak intensity time, and a spectrum dependenceproperty, in the spectrogram. In the dispersion control unit 912, on thebasis of the waveform data from the spectrogram measurement analyzingunits 907 through 909, a feedback signal for dispersion compensation istransmitted to the dispersion compensator 903. As a result, dispersionis eliminated from an optical pulse 913 after dispersion compensation atthe rear of the optical pulse monitoring port; or a waveform isoptimized in response to properties of the whole optical fibertransmission system.

[0091] Steps of dispersion compensation performed in the dispersioncompensator 903 will be described. In order to compensate chromaticdispersion, the optical pulse to be compensated is passed through achromatic dispersion body such as a diffraction grating to resolve theoptical pulse into wavelength components, which are then converted intoparallel luminous flux. After that, a phase of each wavelength componentis passed through a phase modulator where chromatic dispersion iseliminated. Moreover, the optical pulse is passed through anotherchromatic dispersion body in the reverse direction, and thereby througha reverse process of resolution into wavelength components, the opticalpulse is converted into an optical pulse in which chromatic dispersionhas been compensated. As a method that enables such compensation, thereis a method in which a chromatic dispersion optical delay unit is usedas a dispersion compensator. In the chromatic dispersion optical delayunit, a diffraction grating, a lens, a liquid crystal spatial lightmodulator, a lens, and a diffraction grating are placed in series whilethey are separated from each other only by a focal length of each lens.In addition, if a similar function is realized by an optical waveguidetype element, a phase modulator array having the same number of elementsis placed after wavelength separation by an array waveguide diffractiongrating so as to eliminate dispersion. After that, another arraywaveguide diffraction grating is used as a wavelength-multiplexedcoupler. In the example described above, information which is given fromthe dispersion control unit 912 to the dispersion compensator 903 asfeedback is the quantity of phase shift in each wavelength component.

[0092] If polarization mode dispersion is compensated, two ways ofmethods can be considered. In the first method, the dispersioncompensator 903 is provided with a half-wave plate after a quarter-waveplate. In this configuration, polarization of an optical pulse isconverted into a straight line by the quarter-wave plate; and an angleof linear polarization is adjusted by the half-wave plate. Feedbackinformation is an rotation angle of each of the wave plates. A casewhere dispersion can be compensated in the steps is mainly a case wheretime-spectrum properties of optical pulses do not change relating tospectrograms measured by the instruments of optical pulsecharacterization 908 and 909, or a case where they are equivalent totime-spectrum properties obtained from spectrograms of all polarizationcomponents measured by the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 907.In the second method, to be more specific, if time-spectrum propertiesof optical pulses obtained from the spectrogram measurement analyzingunits 908 and 909 are different from each other, dispersion may not becompensated using the steps. In this case, a chromatic dispersionoptical delay unit including a liquid crystal spatial light modulatordescribed in the steps of chromatic dispersion compensation is used. Inthe liquid crystal spatial light modulator, polarization of eachwavelength component can be changed. Using the characteristics,polarization is controlled in response to a wavelength, and thentime-spectrum properties of optical pulses obtained from the spectrogrammeasurement analyzing units 908 and 909 are identified. After that,control by the quarter-wave plate and by the half-wave plate isperformed.

[0093] Seventh Embodiment

[0094] A configuration of a wavelength-multiplexed transmission system,by which dispersion is compensated, or crosstalk is eliminated, todecrease a signal error rate at the time of wavelength-multiplexedtransmission will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 21. Inthis embodiment, dispersion also means chromatic dispersion orpolarization mode dispersion. A wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse1001 before dispersion compensation or crosstalk elimination propagatesthrough a wavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission line 1002,which constitutes a target wavelength-multiplexed transmission system,from left to right. The wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse 1001 beforedispersion compensation or crosstalk elimination is separated intowavelength channels by a dispersion compensator or a crosstalkeliminator 1003. After spectrum measurement, dispersion is compensated,or crosstalk is eliminated, independently for each channel. A wavelengthmultiplexed optical pulse for monitoring 1005 is extracted from awavelength-multiplexed optical pulse monitoring port 1004, and is thendistributed into three paths through an optical fiber for monitoring1006, leading to spectrogram measurement analyzing units 1007 though1009. If it is not necessary to compensate polarization mode dispersion,measuring all polarization components by the spectrogram measurementanalyzing unit 1007 suffices. If further reduction in polarizationdependency is required, a polarization eliminating element 1010 is used.When measuring polarization mode dispersion, the optical pulse isseparated into linear polarization orthogonal to each other by apolarized beam splitter 1011. Then, each component is measured by thespectrogram measurement analyzing units 1008 and 1009. The measuredspectrogram, or peak time-spectrum properties in the spectrogram, istransmitted to a polarization or crosstalk control unit 1012 as waveformdata. Then, the result is given to a dispersion compensator or acrosstalk eliminator 1003 as feedback. As a result of the stepsdescribed above, there is no dispersion or no crosstalk in awavelength-multiplexed optical pulse 1013 after dispersion compensationor crosstalk elimination.

[0095] For dispersion compensation, as the spectrogram measurementanalyzing units 1007 through 1009, the configuration described in thefourth embodiment, shown in FIG. 17, is used. In addition, in thisembodiment, feedback information is given to each wavelength channel ofthe dispersion compensator or the crosstalk eliminator 1003 tocompensate dispersion, instead of giving the phase shift quantity or apolarization rotation angle, as feedback, to each wavelength componentof the optical pulse, for which wavelength resolution has been performedby the dispersion compensator 903 in the sixth embodiment shown in FIGS.9A and 9B. On the other points, the steps may be the same as thosedescribed in the sixth embodiment.

[0096] On the other hand, in the case of crosstalk elimination, whenmeasuring a spectrogram, it is necessary to extract only one specificchannel, which is different from the other, as an optical pulse to bemeasured and a gate optical pulse. Accordingly, in order to use theconfiguration in FIG. 17 for the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit1007, what is required is that in the clock optical pulse extractingport 702, it is possible to select independently a wavelength channelwhich is extracted as an optical pulse to be measured and a clockoptical pulse. For this purpose, the clock optical pulse extracting port702 is required to be equipped with a wavelength tunable opticalband-pass filter which is independent of the other, and which is usedfor an optical pulse to be measured and a clock optical pulse. Moreover,an optical pulse of the selected channel must be used as a gate opticalpulse in the same state except intensity. However, the intensity may beamplified by the gate optical pulse generating unit 704. Thus, in aspectrogram measured by the spectrogram measurement analyzing unit 709,the following waveforms appear: a waveform of a channel componentextracted as the optical pulse to be measured; and a waveformcorresponding to an optical pulse caused by crosstalk of a channelcomponent extracted as the optical pulse to be measured and a channelcomponent extracted as the gate optical pulse. Feedback is performed soas to minimize the waveform. As described above in detail, according tothe present invention, applying two-photon absorption, or four-wavemixing, in a semiconductor to an optical gate enables realization of apolarization-independent optical pulse characterization instrument whichmeasures, with high sensitivity, time and frequency properties of anoptical pulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarized state.

[0097] The present invention can provide an optical transmission system,a signal error rate of which is low, and an instrument of optical pulsecharacterization which is useful for providing such an optical system.

[0098] While the invention has been described in its preferredembodiments, it is to be understood that the words which have been usedare words of description rather than limitation and that changes withinthe purview of the appended claims may be made without departing fromthe true scope and spirit of the invention in its broader aspects.

[0099] Reference Numerals shown are as follows:

[0100]101 Optical pulse to be measured

[0101]102 Polarization independent beam splitter

[0102]103 Probe optical pulse

[0103]104 Gate optical pulse

[0104]105 Polarization independent roof retroreflector

[0105]106 Light intensity modulator

[0106]107 Light intensity modulator

[0107]108 Condenser lens

[0108]109 Two-photon transition medium

[0109]110 Collimation lens

[0110]111 Beam block

[0111]112 Transmitting probe optical pulse

[0112]113 Third optical pulse by four-wave mixing

[0113]114 Optical pulse to be measured

[0114]115 Polarized separation element

[0115]116 Condenser lens

[0116]117 Incident slit

[0117]118 Incidence side spherical mirror

[0118]119 Polarization independent diffraction grating

[0119]120 Emittance side spherical mirror

[0120]121 Rotating mirror

[0121]122 Emittance slit

[0122]123 Photodetector

[0123]124 Lock-in amplifier

[0124]125 Display/analyzing unit

[0125]201 Gate optical pulse

[0126]202 Probe optical pulse

[0127]203 Gate optical pulse

[0128]204 Probe optical pulse

[0129]205 Third optical pulse by four-wave mixing

[0130]301 Optical amplification area

[0131]401 Probe optical pulse

[0132]402 Gate optical pulse

[0133]403 Layer containing an optical amplification medium

[0134]404 Probe optical pulse

[0135]405 Gate optical pulse

[0136]406 Exciting light source

[0137]407 Exciting light

[0138]408 Layer containing an optical amplification medium

[0139]409 Probe optical pulse

[0140]410 Gate optical pulse

[0141]411 Exciting light source

[0142]412 Exciting light

[0143]413 Current injection source

[0144]414 Lead wire for current injection

[0145]501 Gate optical pulse

[0146]502 Probe optical pulse

[0147]503 Polarization independent roof retroreflector

[0148]504 Light intensity modulator

[0149]505 Light intensity modulator

[0150]506 Condenser lens

[0151]507 Two-photon transition medium

[0152]508 Collimation lens

[0153]509 Beam block

[0154]510 Transmitting probe optical pulse

[0155]511 Third optical pulse by four-wave mixing

[0156]512 Optical pulse to be measured

[0157]513 Polarized separation element

[0158]514 Condenser lens

[0159]515 Incident slit

[0160]516 Incidence side spherical mirror

[0161]517 Polarization independent diffraction grating

[0162]518 Emittance side spherical mirror

[0163]519 Rotating mirror

[0164]520 Emittance slit

[0165]521 Photodetector

[0166]522 Lock-in amplifier

[0167]523 Display/analyzing unit

[0168]601 Optical fiber transmission line

[0169]602 Optical amplifier

[0170]603 Optical fiber connecting unit

[0171]604 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0172]701 Wavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission line

[0173]702 Clock optical pulse extracting port

[0174]703 Clock optical pulse extracting optical fiber

[0175]704 Gate optical pulse generating unit

[0176]705 Gate optical pulse inputting optical fiber

[0177]706 Optical fiber connecting unit for gate optical pulse

[0178]707 Optical amplifier

[0179]708 Optical fiber connecting unit for optical pulse to be measured

[0180]709 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0181]801 Optical pulse to be measured

[0182]802 Optical frequency shifter

[0183]803 Reference optical pulse

[0184]804 Optical frequency shifter

[0185]805 Probe optical pulse

[0186]806 Gate optical pulse

[0187]807 Light intensity modulator

[0188]808 Polarization independent roof retroreflector

[0189]809 Polarization independent beam coupler

[0190]810 Condenser lens

[0191]811 Two-photon transition medium

[0192]812 Collimation lens

[0193]813 Polarization independent beam coupler

[0194]814 Photodetector

[0195]815 Band-pass filter

[0196]816 Phase controller

[0197]817 Polarization independent roof retroreflector for phase control

[0198]818 Chromatic dispersion unit

[0199]819 Photodetector

[0200]820 Band-pass filter

[0201]821 Lock-in amplifier

[0202]822 Display/analyzing unit

[0203]901 Optical pulse before dispersion compensation

[0204]902 Optical fiber transmission line

[0205]903 Dispersion compensator

[0206]904 Optical pulse monitoring port

[0207]905 Optical pulse for monitoring

[0208]906 Optical fiber for monitoring

[0209]907 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0210]908 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0211]909 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0212]910 Polarization eliminating element

[0213]911 Polarized beam splitter

[0214]912 Dispersion control unit

[0215]913 Optical pulse after dispersion compensation

[0216]1001 Wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse before dispersioncompensation or crosstalk elimination

[0217]1002 Wavelength-multiplexed optical fiber transmission

[0218]1003 Dispersion compensator or crosstalk eliminator

[0219]1004 Wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse monitoring port

[0220]1005 Wavelength multiplexed optical pulse for monitoring

[0221]1006 Optical fiber for monitoring

[0222]1007 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0223]1008 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0224]1009 Spectrogram measurement analyzing unit

[0225]1010 Polarization eliminating element

[0226]1011 Polarized beam splitter

[0227]1012 Dispersion control unit or crosstalk control unit

[0228]1013 Wavelength-multiplexed optical pulse after dispersioncompensation or crosstalk elimination

What is claimed is:
 1. An instrument of optical pulse characterization,comprising: a structure formed of a medium which causes four-wave mixingunder two-photon transition concurrently with change in transmittance bytwo-photon absorption; means for entering into said structure an opticalpulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarized state, and a gate opticalpulse in an arbitrary polarized state, which is used as a gate formeasurement; means for separating an optical pulse, which is newlygenerated by four-wave mixing, from the passed optical pulse to bemeasured; means for changing transmittance of the optical pulse to bemeasured or intensity of the optical pulse generated by four-wave mixingas a function of power of the gate optical pulse, and sweeping with timethe gate optical pulse by changing delay time of the gate optical pulserelative to the optical pulse to be measured, whereby the optical pulseto be measured or the optical pulse generated by four-wave mixing isresolved with time; means for performing frequency resolution orwavelength resolution of the optical pulse to be measured, or frequencyresolution or wavelength resolution of the optical pulse generated byfour-wave mixing, through a polarization independent spectrum dispersionunit; and means for measuring, as a spectrogram which is a function ofdelay time and of a frequency or a wavelength, intensity of the opticalpulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarized state, and a change withtime in phase of the optical pulse to be measured.
 2. An instrument ofoptical pulse characterization according to claim 1, wherein: theoptical pulse to be measured in an arbitrary polarization state ispassed through a polarization independent beam splitter, and the opticalpulse to be measured is split into two directions by the beam splitter,thereby permitting a gate optical pulse to be generated from the opticalpulse to be measured itself.
 3. An instrument of optical pulsecharacterization according to claim 1, wherein: the optical pulse to bemeasured is discriminated from the optical pulse generated by four-wavemixing by the steps of: entering the optical pulse to be measured andthe gate optical pulse into said structure so that both of the pulsescross each other; and spatially separating the optical pulse generatedby four-wave mixing from the passed optical pulse to be measured.
 4. Aninstrument of optical pulse characterization according to claim 1,wherein: the optical pulse to be measured is discriminated from theoptical pulse generated by four-wave mixing by the steps of: separatingthe optical pulse to be measured, which is entered into the instrumentof optical pulse characterization, into the optical pulse to be measureditself and a reference optical pulse whose carrier frequency isdifferent from that of the optical pulse to be measured; setting carrierfrequencies of the optical pulse to be measured and the gate opticalpulse so that their frequencies are different from each other and arealso different from the frequency of the reference optical pulse;setting a beat frequency generated by interference with the referenceoptical pulse so that the beat frequency differs from the frequency ofthe optical pulse to be measured, that of the gate optical pulse, andthat of the optical pulse generated by four-wave mixing; and selecting abeat frequency of a signal to be detected.
 5. An instrument of opticalpulse characterization according to claim 1, further comprising apolarization independent reflector provided on the rear of a spectrumdispersion unit, said polarization independent reflector rotating aboutan axis orthogonal to a central axis in a traveling direction of theoptical pulse to be measured where spectrum dispersion occurs; and aslit provided in the front part of a photodetector, said slit passing apart of intensity of the optical pulse to be measured, for whichfrequency resolution or wavelength resolution has been performed, fromthe rotating reflector; wherein an angle around an axis of the rotatingreflector indicates the selected frequency or the selected wavelengthcomponent of the optical pulse to be measured; and frequency resolutionof the optical pulse to be measured is performed using the angle of therotating reflector as a frequency reference signal or a wavelengthreference signal.
 6. An instrument of optical pulse characterizationaccording to claim 1, wherein: a structure formed of a medium, in whichtwo-photon transition causes a change in transmittance or generates anoptical pulse, has optical gain by current injection or opticalirradiation, enabling optical amplification in the structure.
 7. Aninstrument of optical pulse characterization according to claim 1,wherein: characterization of a change in properties of an optical pulse,resulting from polarization mode dispersion in an optical fiber, isperformed by the steps of: separating intensity of the optical pulse tobe measured passed through a structure formed of a medium, in whichtwo-photon transition causes a change in transmittance or generates anoptical pulse, into two components, which have polarization independentof each other or are orthogonal to each other, before detecting thecomponents; and thereby separating a spectrogram of the optical pulse tobe measured into said two components of polarization, and then measuringthe components.